Essential Issues of Dragon Magazine?

[Palanan]

I just got my hands on Dragon #311, which has the Green Whisperer PrC as well as some interesting class variants. (A druid focused on metal? Hm.) I've heard a lot about Dragon, but never really flipped through it before. Now I'm interested in other issues that would be worth looking at.

So, what issues would everyone recommend? And which items, PrCs, variants, etc. would be appropriate for a mid-tier game?

[Kaje]

I love 336 for the beauty that is the Mystic Ranger.

[Palanan]

Mystic Ranger is awesome, indeed.

Let me put the question another way: if you could only bring one issue of Dragon to the table, what would it be? And why?

[Big Fau]

How about none? Dragon content has this habit of being about as balanced as a drunken giraffe walking on a tightrope.

Yes, I do not like Paizo.

[FMArthur]

The Mind Blade feats from 341 (p86-87) are overall subpar, but they provide interesting options to a class with very few of its own. I've used Reshape Mind Blade and Soulknife a couple times to make pretty fun gimmick characters.

[kardar233]

Dragon #355 and #358 have spots in my heart for Beast Strike and Eldritch Claws.

[Pokonic]

Theres one i seemed to have misplaced with the Ferrus dragons, some rather interesting in there own right. (Cobolts have a sort of relationship with Kolbolds, for instance).

[Ernir]

313 has half-minotaur, gheden (and a few other half-breeds), dragon psychoses, and Mind Mage.
314 has fire-souled, Master of the East Wind, and Heartfire Fanner.
350 is a rare source of soulmelds.

[Alleran]

Dragon #343 has the arcane dragons, which I happen to be quite fond of.

[Ryu_Bonkosi]

Dragon #310 for the Martial Monk. Makes Monk 2 even better turning it into probably one of the best dips for any martial character.

Dragon #325 for Alternate Source Spell if you fancy dual casting progressions.

Dragon #357 for Eidetic Spellcaster. Give up your familiar and scribe scroll feat to never have to worry about your spellbook ever again (because you don't use one!).

Dragon #313 for Ravening Dragon. (Apply it to a DFA and you can end most encounters in a single round of crazy breath weapon shenanigans).

[Myth]

The one that gives Initiate of the Faerie Mysteries - one Int stat to rule them all!

[Thurbane]

Dragon 333 for Knowstones.

Dragon 318 for the (semi-)official Oriental Adventures 3.5 update.

[Myth]

Knowstones?

[Yora]

I like the one that has Dagon, Ogre Mages, and Archery.

[Alleran]

Knowstones?
Wearing them adds new spells to the sorcerer's Known Spells list.

[Greenish]

Dragon #310 for the Martial Monk. Makes Monk 2 even better turning it into probably one of the best dips for any martial character.Also sports variant fighters, such as Targeteer, Exoticist and Pugilist.

[Edit]: #306 has the handy environmental templates.

[Darrin]

Dragon #289: Playful Phoenix Fist (Random Name Generator for Martial Arts Moves)
Dragon #291: Arcane Gnomes (UMD always a class skill), Fox familiar, Bracers of Wands
Dragon #294: Ready-Drink Helm
Dragon #302: A Clutch of Cantrips
Dragon #304: Unseelie Fey template, Awaken Ooze spell
Dragon #305: God-Touched + Divine Channeler feats = Turn Undead 1/day.
Dragon #306: Magic-Blooded/Arctic templates, Talisman of Adaptation
Dragon #310: Variant Fighters, Variant Monks (Martial/Holy), Variant Paladins
Dragon #311: Variant Clerics, Variant Druids, Green Whisperer, Battle Howler of Gruumsh
Dragon #312: Variant Antipaladins, Variant Necromancers
Dragon #313: Half-Minotaur/Half-Ogre templates, Dragon Psychoses templates (Riddles/Spellhoarding)
Dragon #314: Masters of the Four Winds, Heartfire Fanner, Fire-Souled template (LA is +3, not +1)
Dragon #315: Tortle race
Dragon #318: Oriental Adventures 3.5 update, dinosaur familiars/animal companions
Dragon #319: Troll-Blooded feat, various Animal Shen, Kung Fu Genius
Dragon #320: Metallic Dragon PC races, Warcraft III races (Techno Gnomes, Complacent Humans)
Dragon #321: Glimmerfolk
Dragon #323: Chocobo animal companions/mounts, Specialist familiars (Hummingbird)
Dragon #324: Grippli race, Wild Defender variant Ranger (Paladin/Ranger mashup starts with 1st level spells), Wild Monk variant
Dragon #325: Easy Metamagic feat, Theurgic Bond
Dragon #326: Monstrous Animal Companion/Savage Empathy, Cantrips/Orisons, Flexible Mind feat, Optional Ranger Combat Styles
Dragon #327: Sorcerer Flaws (Loner)
Dragon #328: Saurian Shifter race, Paladin domains
Dragon #329: Swarm familiars
Dragon #330: Flaws for Commoners (Chicken-Infested)
Dragon #332: Chromatic Dragon PC races, Dderwydd Chmdeithas Initiate feat
Dragon #333: Elusive Dance feat, Knowstones, Forlorn flaw
Dragon #335: Chaos Monk, Aquatic Fey bloodline
Dragon #336: Mystic Ranger
Dragon #349: City Brawler Barbarian variant
Dragon #350: Totemist soulmelds, Ranged Threat feat
Dragon #355: Garrot/Strangulation rules, Armored Savant Fighter ACF
Dragon #358: Master's Forge (new qualities for weapons/armor), Eldritch Claws

[Palanan]

...yeah, I think that counts as winning this thread. :smalltongue:

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions. The Wild Defender immediately gives me ideas for my campaign.

[Ravens_cry]

#77 for the "Elemental Gods" article. I'm still not quite sure how to import this idea into 3.X, but it really inspires me to how I want to run deities in a campaign.

[Palanan]

...looking at the Wild Defender, I really want to like it, but it's achingly meh.

The notion fits well with my campaign, which is to say I like the general idea of a wild defender...just can't find much that stands out here. Part of this is because I've never seen much point from smite attacks, especially at low levels, and I'd be using a Wild Defender around 7th level or so. Is there much that can be done with it?

[Darrin]

...looking at the Wild Defender, I really want to like it, but it's achingly meh.

The notion fits well with my campaign, which is to say I like the general idea of a wild defender...just can't find much that stands out here. Part of this is because I've never seen much point from smite attacks, especially at low levels, and I'd be using a Wild Defender around 7th level or so. Is there much that can be done with it?

My interest in it was it had a slightly faster spell progression than Mystic Ranger. Wild Defender gets 1st-level spells with only a 1st-level dip, and I believe it gets 3rd level spells around 6th level, while Mystic Ranger starts with zero-level spells and doesn't get 3rd level spells until 7th level. If you're trying to add some divine spellcasting to a gish or are trying to qualify for something like Swiftblade as early as possible, Wild Defender might be more efficient.

Yes, Smite is kinda meh, but you can convert it into something else: Smite to Song, or check out the Shield of Mercy in the MIC to convert your unused Smites into extra healing (for only 2170 GP!).

It gets Trackless Step at 3rd, so it might be useful for getting into Arcane Hierophant. If you can get Turn Undead from somewhere, such as God-Touched + Divine Channeler (Dragon #305) or Planar Touchstone -> Dragonlance version of the Sun domain, then getting into something like Ruby Knight Vindicator, Eldritch Disciple, or Prestige Paladin could be interesting.

[Palanan]

I really like the idea of using Wild Defender to get into Arcane Hierophant; it fits a spot in my campaign, but I'm having a little trouble working it out. Wild Defender picks up Trackless Step at 3rd, but doesn't get second-level spells until 4th, and the animal companion comes in at 5th. The companion familiar is one of the best things about Arcane Hierophant (at least to me), so I'd want to include the first five levels.

I'm none too adroit with this sort of thing, but one idea would be Beguiler 4/Wild Defender 5/AH 1, with Practiced Spellcaster and Versatile Spellcaster on the beguiler side. This would be sort of a wilderness trickster-defender, although I have no idea how effective this would be.

Or, Wild Defender 5/Wu Jen 3/AH 1? Again, no idea how useful this could be. I'm just determined to make Wild Defender work. :smalltongue: